Azur Lane

Azur Lane turns historical World War II warships into anime characters called shipgirls and combines gacha unit collecting with surprisingly brisk 2D shoot-em-up-style battles, where moving around the screen matters just as much as picking your fleet. The player assembles a fleet, sails across the map, and dodges projectiles in real time while ships fire on enemies both automatically and manually — this mix of action and fleet strategy makes the battles more than just watching animations play out, as is the case with many competing gacha games built purely on spreadsheet numbers. Touch controls handle both dodging maneuvers and aiming special abilities without major compromises.

Made by studio Manjuu and brought to the West by publisher Yostar in 2017, the game borrowed its concept of ships as girls from the similarly themed Japanese game Kantai Collection, but managed to turn it into its own successful brand through snappier action and a more accessible approach to international distribution, complete with crossover collaborations and an anime adaptation that reached viewers beyond the gaming community.

Monetization combines gacha draws for ships using in-game currency that can also be purchased, along with common free-to-play elements like an energy system limiting the number of missions per day. Basic play and a significant portion of the ships are available for free without needing to pay.

Why play it: For players who aren't drawn to gacha collecting on its own but appreciate it when the battles themselves have a brisk action edge, rather than just watching animations play out on screen.